Black Market Gear: Deals of the Week

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The best deals of the week including Wii consoles, HDTVs, Palm Pres and more.

By Chris Iaquinta

You know why gear is great? Because there is just so much of it. Its everywhere and in every industry, and there is no shortage of good stuff for every gadget hound and tech freak to get their hands on. The problem is finding the best deals online can take forever and we feel our readers have better things to do with their time, which is why IGN Gear has put together a weekly feature where we will find some of the best priced products online and put it right here at your fingertips. Off the back of a truck prices, but all of the anonymous, lazy comforts of internet shopping -- Black Market Gear.

Gaming Gear

Wii Console with Mario & Sonic - $199.99 (Normally: $249.99)

Get it at: EToys

Were you one of those poor unfortunate souls that tried to get their hands on a Wii when the console was first released? Well, unless you pre-ordered far in advance or were willing to commit certain levels of theft/murder, chances are that you were left staring at empty retail shelves for years as Nintendo struggled to keep up with demand for their latest system. Thankfully those days are now behind us all, and you can finally put a Wii in your household for cheaper than ever.

This particular package lets you save a cool $50.00 off the regular retail price, plus for your efforts you'll also net a copy of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games and Wii Sports. Yeah sure the Mario & Sonic game isn't exactly an A+ title, but at least you'll feel better at night knowing that you got an extra game to play for the hard earned (aka stolen) cash you spent on the console.

Home Theater Gear

Sharp AQUOS 40" 1080p LCD HDTV - $599.99 (Normally: $749.95)

Get it at: Best Buy

As much as we hate to admit it, we loved Circuit City. Unfortunately the reasons we loved the failed electronics store were also the reasons that led to its downfall, namely the abundance of inventory combined with near-empty locations. Since then, Best Buy has become the only game in town for many gadget lovers that don't want to buy online and are afraid to walk into a Fry's, which isn't exactly a bad thing given Best Buy's ability to offer some of the best (no pun intended) pricing on items like televisions.

This week they've got a sweet deal on the very popular AQUOS line of sets from Sharp, this one measuring in at the 40" mark. 1080p comes standard, as does a very generous helping of four HDMI inputs, which is impressive for a set smaller than 46". Still waiting for Claire's lesbionic tendencies to pop up on a future episode of Heroes? Buy this TV and watch your Panettiere fantasy in maximum definition.

Computer Gear

Cavalry 1TB Hard Drive - $79.99 (Normally: $104.99)

Get it at: Buy.com

Most desktops and computers come with enough hard drive space to last the average user a few years, but the invention of internet download services for everything from movies, music, games and, ahem, adult entertainment have resulted in HDs filling up in record time. For quite awhile it was only truly affordable to pick up an external HD in the 160-250GB range, but recent gains in technology have now produced monster 1TB drives like this one from Cavalry that come in under the $100 mark.

The main feature from the CAUM Series external hard drive is the Cavalry One-Touch Backup button, which can be configured using the included software to back up data to user-defined directories with just one press of a button. It has transfer speeds up to 480Mbps, comes pre-formatted with NTFS, and runs near-silent thanks to the fanless heat dissipation system.

Threads

Rocker T-Shirt - $10.00 (Normally: $18.95)

Get it at: Split Reason

You gotta hand it to games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero, as they've made it cool to be a fake musician. Normally gamers don't get a lot of praise from the rest of the masses when it comes to their gaming skill, but music peripheral-based games have gone a long way in changing that. Why spend months learning how to play a real guitar so that you can impress the hottie down the street when all you need is a fake Beatles replica with bright plastic buttons?

The Rocker tee from Split Reason lets you pay homage to your make believe musician self, and help you deal with the depression that'll eventually hit when you realize that all the time spent mastering Guitar Hero Aerosmith could've been spent on actually learning how to play the songs on a real instrument. Kinda an important lesson if you ever want to play the guitar outside of your living room, as it's hard to take requests at the local coffee shop with a plastic Stratocaster in your hands.

Gadgets

Palm Pre - $99.99 (Normally: $299.99)

Get it at: Lets Talk

Heavily marketed pre-launch as the "iPhone Killer", the Palm Pre has been enjoying mild success since it's official debut, though it hasn't really racked up the psychopathic smartphone body count we were all led to believe would happen after it was released upon the world. Still, its features are many and we're now starting to see steep discounts online for the Pre far sooner than we normally ever see after a major product release, with the best offer coming through Lets Talk.

Yeah you read that correctly, it's a $200 savings off the retail price, but not all of the discount is applied right away. $150 of it comes through a LetsTalk instant rebate, and an additional $50 gets knocked off through a mail-in rebate. Of course none of this includes the actual data plan pricing for the phone, but if you're just looking to nab a Pre, it doesn't get any cheaper than this right now.